People are willing to go to extreme lengths to showcase their sports fandom. Fans’ allegiance to their favorite teams and players is so intense that some are even willing to permanently etch it onto their skin.
Take, for example, the Oklahoma football fan who earlier this month got Baker Mayfield’s image tattooed on him because Mayfield retweeted him. Or — in a more regrettable turn of circumstance — the fan who got the Cleveland Indians logo tattooed with “2016 Champs” before Game 7 of last year’s World Series.
Many fans, however, feel just as strongly about the players they root against. They don’t just dislike these players — they despise them.
Such is the case for Kalen Gilleese, a Salt Lake City, Utah, man who’s a “big fan of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.” Like many MJ diehards, Gilleese can’t stand LeBron James. So he took that message to his leg, where he got a tattoo of LeBron crying.
Salt Lake City man gets crying LeBron tattoo (Credit: Blaque Salt Tattoo) pic.twitter.com/oMVGFNuDup
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 23, 2017
“He’s always flopping, crying, looking for fouls,” Gilleese told CNN. “I’ve never had a lot of respect for him.”
Gilleese said the tattoo took three hours to complete.
“Every time I look at it I laugh, and I like to show it and make people smile,” he said.
Gilleese does at least have some respect for LBJ and all he’s accomplished.
“LeBron is definitely a legend, but he’s the biggest crybaby legend of all time,” Gilleese said.
It doesn’t seem all that logical — getting an image of someone you despise permanently tattooed on your body — but it’s certainly one way to make your voice heard.
